Easiest linux to install

How to Install Linux Mint 20 [The Simplest Way Possible]

Undoubtedly, Linux Mint is one of the best Linux distributions for beginners. It is easy to use, doesn’t consume lots of system resource and has tons of software available.

There are various ways to install Linux Mint:

• Install Linux Mint in VirtualBox in Windows like a regular desktop application.
• Install Linux Mint in dual boot mode with Windows keeping both Windows and Linux Mint on the same computer.
• Replace all other operating systems and install Linux Mint as the only OS on your computer.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install Linux Mint removing other operating systems from your computer.

Install Linux Mint by replacing Windows or any other operating system

I am using Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon edition. However, the steps work for other Mint versions and desktop variants like Xfce and MATE. The screenshot might look a little bit different but the steps remain the same.

• A USB of at least 4 GB in size. You may also use a DVD.
• Active internet connection for downloading Linux Mint ISO and live-USB making tool. Internet is not required for installing Linux Mint.
• This is optional but if you have important data on the system where you are going to install Linux Mint, you should copy the files on an external disk.

Minimum system requirements for Linux Mint 20 default Cinnamon edition:

• Minimum 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• Minimum 15 GB of disk space (20 GB recommended).
• Minimum 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

This method of installing Linux Mint formats your entire disk. That means any data present on the system will be wiped out.

For this reason, please save your data on an external USB disk so that you can copy it back after installing Mint.

Step 1: Download Linux Mint ISO

Go to Linux Mint website and download Linux Mint in ISO format. This file is used for creating the installation USB.

You’ll find three variants:

If you do not know about them, go with the default Cinnamon edition. When you click on that, you’ll find various mirror websites and torrent link to download the ISO file.

If you have a good internet connection for downloading 2 GB of file without any issue, use a mirror which is closer to your country of residence (for faster download).

If you do not have a good, consistent internet connection, opt for the torrent version (if you know what torrent is).

Download Linux Mint

Step 2: Create a live USB of Linux Mint

Now that you have downloaded the ISO, it is time for creating a live USB of Linux Mint.

You’ll need a dedicated software that creates a live USB. There are several such tools available for free. You can use Etcher which is available on Windows, Linux and macOS.

If you are using Windows, you can also use Rufus. In the example here, I have used Rufus.

Download Rufus and run the .exe file and you’ll see a screen like the below image.

You select the ISO. You may confuse over the partitioning scheme. Almost all the computers in last 7 years or so use GPT partitioning scheme. Older computers may use the MBR partitioning. You should check which partitioning scheme your system uses to be sure.

If you choose the incorrect partitioning scheme, you may not be able to Linux Mint. In that case, come back to this step and recreate the USB by choosing the other partitioning scheme.

Step 3: Boot from the live Linux Mint USB

Once you have successfully created the Linux Mint USB, it is time to use it for installing the awesome Linux Mint.

Plug in the live USB of Linux Mint and restart your system. At the boot screen when you see the logo of your computer manufacturer, press F2 or F10 or F12 to enter the BIOS settings.

In here, you should make sure that booting for USB or removable media is on the top of the boot order.

This screen may look different for different manufacturers. You’ll have to find this setting on your own or search the internet.

Make the changes, save and exit.

Step 4: Install Linux Mint

Now you should boot into the live Linux Mint environment. You’ll see a screen like this that gives you a couple of options. Go with the first option.

In a few seconds you’ll be inside the Linux Mint live environment. It may take more time if you have USB 2.

You’ll see a “Install Linux Mint” icon on the desktop. Click on it to start the installation procedure.

It will ask you to choose some basic configurations like language and keyboard layout. Choose the most appropriate ones for your system.

Avoid connecting to internet during installation

I strongly advise NOT connecting to internet while installing Linux Mint. This way the installation is quicker as it does not try downloading updates while installation.

Not connecting to the internet may also save you a few unpleasant surprises. I encountered a “‘grub-efi-amd64-signed’ package failed to install into /target” error and my installation failed. I plugged out the live USB and tried installing it again without connecting to the internet and the error didn’t appear this time.

The next screen is the most important part of Linux Mint installation. You are going to format the entire hard disk and install Linux Mint. Linux Mint will be the only operating system on your computer.

Again, this means that you’ll lose all the data on the disk. Please copy important files on an external disk.

In this method, Linux Mint handles everything on its own. It creates an ESP partition for EFI boot manager of about 500 MB and the rest of the disk is allocated to root partition. The root consists a swapfile for swap usage and your home directory. This is the easiest setup with no extra effort.

You’ll be warned that disk will be formatted. Hit continue and you’ll have to select timezone in the next. You may change it later as well.

After that, you’ll face a screen that asks you to set username and password. Use an easy to remember password because you’ll have to use it all the time.

Things are pretty straightforward from here. You just have to wait for like 5-10 minutes for the installation to complete.

• 
• 
• 

Once the installation finishes, it will ask you to restart the system. Restart it.

When the system turns off, it also asks you to remove the live USB and press enter.

Well, that’s it. You’ll now boot into Linux Mint. Enter your password you had created earlier and you’ll enter Linux Mint to see a welcome screen like this:

Linux Mint Welcome Screen

Enjoy Linux Mint

Since you just installed it, do read our recommendation of things to do after installing Linux Mint 20.

I hope this tutorial helped you in installing Linux Mint 20 easily. If you face any issues or difficulties or if you have any confusion, feel free to leave a comment below.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

Источник

How to Install Linux

Installing Linux follows a similar pathway regardless of the distribution

All you need to install Linux is a computer with available hard-drive space, a flash drive, and a copy of the installer for a specific Linux distribution.

Check Your Hardware for Linux Compatibility

Linux runs on almost any hardware, including very old desktop and laptop computers that otherwise struggle to run modern Windows or macOS hardware.

Before you get started, check your hardware specs—different Linux distributions run desktop environments that require varying degrees of hardware sophistication. The core measures include the clock speed of your processor, the architecture of your processor, the computer’s available RAM, and the video-card manufacturer.

By architecture we mean the processor family. Every operating system supports a limited number of processor types. Microsoft Windows, for example, supports Intel and AMD processors by default, and can support ARM processors in special Windows 10 variants. Linux supports many different processors, but each individual distribution only supports a subset of them. Thus, the scope of distributions available to you is dependent on your processor. If your computer uses Intel or AMD processors, you’re generally safe in almost all circumstances. More obscure processors are hit-or-miss in terms of distribution support.

Select a Linux Distribution

Linux is a single operating system, but it’s expressed in a variant called a distribution. Think of a distribution as a special flavor of Linux. It consists of a specific Linux kernel (common to all distributions, but at different version levels), a package manager, a default shell, and default desktop environment.

The greater Linux ecosystem supports several hundred distributions. Some of them, by design, features ease-of-use tools to help people new to Linux to get their feet wet. Others offer deep customization options that appeal to experienced Linux aficionados.

Desktop Environments

The graphical user interface for Linux is called a desktop environment. Pick from more than a dozen options. Of all the choices you must make, the selection of a DE, or a distribution with a default DE, is among the most significant because the DE is the single biggest consumer of system resources. The newer, flashier DEs (including KDE Plasma) work great on modern hardware, whereas older and less-intensive DEs like LXDE fly even on decade-old equipment.

It may not matter if your preferred DE isn’t a default option for your preferred distribution. In most cases, you’re free to install your favorite DE just as you’d install any other application package.

Plan Your Installation Strategy

Pick one of three different options:

1. Install Linux on the entire hard drive, overwriting any existing operating system.
2. Install Linux to a virtual machine.
3. Install Linux on part of a hard drive, alongside an existing operating system.

Of these, the easiest option is to simply wipe everything and install Linux to over the entire hard disk.

Some people prefer to run Linux as a virtual machine within a host operating system. For example, Windows 10 Professional supports Hyper-V, within which any Linux distribution may be installed. It runs in a window. Similarly, tools like VirtualBox also support full-featured Linux computers within a Windows session. You’ll still allocate some disk space and memory for Linux, but it’ll subtract from what Windows requires. Virtual machines are great options if you’ve got plenty of disk space and available RAM—16 GB or more.

Installing Linux alongside Windows or macOS requires an extra step. Before you install Linux, you must use Windows or macOS to free disk space safely.

All computers, when they’re initially powered, run a diagnostic utility and a tiny hardware-based operating system that facilitates the loading of your «regular» operating system. On old computers, this hardware OS is called the BIOS. On modern computers, it’s called the UEFI. If your computer uses UEFI, you’ll need to tweak how you burn your ISO to Flash. Consult your distribution’s installation guide for specific procedures.

Write the Distribution’s Installer to a USB Drive

In most cases, you’ll download an ISO file from your distribution’s website. This ISO is technically a disc image originally intended for burning to CDs or DVDs. Now, most people write the ISO to a dedicated removable USB drive.

After you’ve prepared the USB stick, backed up essential files, and—if necessary—resized your Windows or macOS volumes, you’re ready to install Linux.

Install Linux

Almost all Linux distributions install with a similar graphical installer. Although each distribution offers its own quirks and screens, for the most part, they’re fairly interchangeable. The only complex distributions are those without a graphical installer—e.g., Slackware.

The process typically unfolds as follows:

Reboot your computer with the USB drive plugged in. Depending on how your computer is configured, it’ll either boot to the USB drive, or you’ll have to press some sort of escape-key sequence to prompt an alternative boot order.

Watch your computer’s screen during the initial start-up sequence. Often, you’ll see a brief message advising you to press a special key to launch the BIOS/UEFI settings or to modify the boot-device order.

Allow Linux to load. Depending on the distribution, it’ll either push you to an installer program, or it’ll load a live USB environment. In the live environment, you’re free to play with it a few minutes to verify you’re comfortable with the distribution. When you’re ready to install Linux to disk from the live environment, select the Install Linux or equivalent utility. Often, this utility resides as an icon on the desktop.

Answer the prompts in the installer. The biggest decision point relates to the partition scheme. To install Linux on the whole hard drive, accept the defaults. To install Linux alongside an existing operating system, assign Linux to the partition or free space you created in Windows or macOS before you started your Linux installation.

You’re free to mount your Windows or macOS partitions within the Linux filesystem, provided your distribution recognizes the filesystem type for Windows or Mac. Be careful, however, with mounting remote filesystems if you’re not familiar with how filesystems and drive mounting works—mistakes here could lead to loss of data for Windows or macOS.

Set the bootloader. Determine your bootloader strategy. Either Linux manages the bootloader for the computer—required for whole-disk installations—or Windows or macOS does. Windows 10 sometimes struggles on EFI systems with Linux managing the bootloader. If you let Windows or macOS manage the bootloader in a true dual-boot system, use the Windows or Mac tool to reconfigure your bootloader so that it recognizes your Linux system.

Let Linux manage the bootloader if you’re installing a virtual machine. Your host operating system (Windows or macOS) won’t be affected.

Reboot the computer. After the installer completes, you’re either prompted to remove your installation media and reboot, or you’re dropped back to the live session. In either case, remove the USB drive and reboot your computer. Pick your Linux distribution from the bootloader screen.

Configure Linux

When you log in to your new Linux system for the first time, you’re working from a clean slate. Use this opportunity to install valuable open-source software and configure your desktop environment.

Источник